Landlord Guide

At Streets Ahead, we think one of the most important stages of letting your property is the initial stage. We treat every market appraisal and enquiry very seriously as in our experience every landlord has different circumstances and different reasons for wanting to let their property. For instance typical enquiries can be from a first time landlord, a seasoned landlord with a large portfolio or a landlord that doesn’t live in the area. We appreciate all of these require a tailored service and all require up to date rental values, current trends and regulations.

At this stage, we will be delighted to visit the property and bring with us current evidence of properties recently let that are similar to yours, giving you the comfort that we have properly researched the rental value of your property. We take into consideration many factors when carrying out a market appraisal including transport links, local amenities, condition of the property, furnishing, local trends and whether these are likely to change.

We will also advise you in detail of the type of tenant likely to let your property, how long they are likely to stay and even the occupations of tenants that have let similar properties. Once again giving you the comfort that we are experts in letting your type of property.

The next stage is advising you of up to date legislation which can be anything from your EPC (energy performance certificate), gas and electric regulations and any furniture, fixtures and fittings that you are considering including. We will help and guide you with any questions you may have with carbon monoxide, smoke detectors, legionella and the fitness of human habitation rules (housing health and safety rating system – HHSRS) under the Housing Act of 2004. We will also help you with your obligations under sections 11-16 of the Landlord and Tenants Act 1985. When you instruct us to advise and help you, Streets Ahead will ensure you are protected at
all times.

I t is worth noting at this point that many landlords ask our advice regarding insurance, liability and your tenants’ obligation and whether you require landlords’, building and or contents insurance. We are happy to advise and help you regarding any of these.

At Streets Ahead, we think the formula for a happy and successful tenancy is to find a great tenant in the first place. To find a great tenant, our marketing 24 hours a day reaches a local, nationwide and even international audience and in the last 12 months alone, Streets Ahead has arranged 141 tenancies for international corporate clients. We will market your property on all the major property portals including Rightmove, Zoopla, Primelocation, our own website and 16 further portals, together with our multi-linked office displays. We are confident that this will give you high profile exposure.

Although your property will be marketed locally, nationally and internationally, our award winning service has been very much attributed to seeking out and finding the very best tenant suitable for you and your property and very often this tenant is already registered on our extensive tenant database.

We will help and advise you with regards to maximising the appeal of your property. Very often, this is decluttering, keeping the property neutral, spacious and airy and even a blank canvass for prospective tenants. At Streets Ahead, we think ’knowledge is power’ and therefore whilst conducting a viewing we will supply any prospective tenants with a wealth of local knowledge including access to transport, local shops schools and leisure facilities and also the likely outgoings to include utility bills, council tax and even cable/Sky Digital costs.

It goes without saying that without exception all of our viewings are accompanied and we will always let you know when a prospective tenant is viewing and it is our policy at Streets Ahead to give you the feedback the very same day.

When negotiating an offer with the right tenant, we will strive to get you the best possible rent and, it goes without saying, from the best tenant. However it is our company policy to only recommend the perfect tenant for you and we will not compromise on the policy. Our award winning service has been recognised for taking into consideration other factors when recommending a prospective tenant to you.

We ask more questions than the average lettings agent and frequently prospective tenants comment that the information we require and questions that we ask are far beyond other agents in our high street. We recommend at this stage that you meet your tenant as nobody knows the property like you and many thousands of landlords have been given peace of mind after actually meeting their tenant face to face.

Whilst we appreciate that many things are based on instinct, at Streets Ahead
there is absolutely no compromise when coming to references and we leave no stone unturned with our credit checks and our procedures regarding a prospective tenant’s history.

We know that our reputation is on the line and we know that, broadly speaking, a poor reference procedure will lead to poor tenants. At Streets Ahead our award winning progression and Property Management department manages an annual portfolio of thousands of properties with less than 1% in arrears.

It is important to us that we find the right tenant for you and your property. We regularly liaise with yourselves and our referencing agents on the suitability of all your prospective tenants.

We assign to you your own Property Manager who will look after you and your property from the outset until the end of the tenancy, thus ensuring we meet all your needs and deliver a personal and thorough service throughout the period. Your Property Manager will take full responsibility for ensuring all legal requirements, regulations and administration regarding your property are properly dealt with.

We organise and instruct inventories to be carried out on your behalf to an outsourced unbiased provider to give you peace of mind that your property has been properly examined before and after the tenancy.

We ensure that your property is properly maintained and cared for by your tenants. We regularly inspect your property throughout the tenancy. We conduct an inspection 3 months after the start of tenancy to review the tenant’s initial care of the property. This is followed by 6 monthly inspections which are also in addition to any other visits we feel are necessary based on our recommendations.

We handle all utilities that relate to your property, ensuring they are properly monitored and dealt with.

We promptly attend to any reported property maintenance issues at your property and give you constant advisement on the reported areas. We also offer to instruct and monitor our own contractors to carry out any necessary works on your behalf.

We proactively monitor rental income for each property on a daily basis to ensure you are in receipt of your rental payment regularly and consistently without delay. We follow a robust arrears procedure which ensures we carry the burden of recovering late or overdue rent payments on your behalf.

We will negotiate and arrange any changes or contract renewals on your behalf at the end of the tenancy.

At Streets Ahead we provide all of our landlords and tenants with a continuous 24 hour service to ensure we are always available when you need us.

Rent Collection

We extensively market and advertise your property locally and nationally combined with accompanied viewings. It is important to us that we find the right tenant for you and your property. We regularly liaise with yourselves and our referencing agents on the suitability of all your prospective tenants.

We assign to you your own Property Manager who will look after you and your property from the outset until the end of the tenancy, thus ensuring we meet all your needs and deliver a personal and thorough service throughout the period.

Your Property Manager will take full responsibility for ensuring all legal requirements, regulations and administration regarding your property are properly dealt with.

We organise and instruct inventories to be carried out on your behalf to an outsourced unbiased provider to give you peace of mind that your property has been properly examined before and after the tenancy.

We proactively monitor rental income for each property on a daily basis to ensure you are in receipt of your rental payment regularly and consistently without delay. We follow a robust arrears procedure which ensures we carry the burden of recovering late or overdue rent payments on your behalf.

Our inventory clerks are a handpicked team of professionals who are experienced in detail and on the day of occupation will ensure that both tenant and landlord are happy with the itemising of the contents and condition of the property.
Our extremely comprehensive and detailed inventories are designed to protect both parties and minimise the risk of any dispute over the deposit at the end of
the tenancy.

The security deposit is taken at the beginning of the tenancy and normally is equal to 4-6 weeks rent. This deposit is held as security ensuring that the property is returned in the same condition to when the tenancy commenced.

The Housing Act of 2004 protects all parties and it is now a requirement for a deposit to be held within a government approved scheme.

We want to hear from you. We have 90 experienced experts on hand 7 days a week to help you with all your property requirements.

I recently had the pleasure of Autumn Bailey(Crystal palace) helping me in my search for a rental property. She was very pleasant to deal with and always very helpful. She was also punctual and always eager to help. She is a great asset to Street Ahead and I will certainly be dealing with her again in the future. I would also like to mention Dwayne on the sales side who is also very helpful. Keep up the good work guys.

I had the best experience with Street Ahead particularly with Jamaal Tingling who went above and beyond to help me find the property that meets my need. Till this day Jamaal has been helping us with our property search and has been a good spot.
He was very understanding, patience, funny and honest . If anyone is looking for a property and a team that will support you, and help you till the very end then street Ahead is for you . Make sure you ask for Jamaal Tingling( Croydon Branch).
Please can the management team reward him for this effort as he has made me to recommend street ahead to friend, families and work colleague. I also think the management team should reward their staffs who go out there and exude positivity to customer. He has certainly changed my perception on Estate agents thanks again Jamaal Tingling.

I was looking for apartment online. From the start Autumn were really responsive and helped me with everything. She walked me through to all the steps in a really short time frame. Her extensive knowledge and advice ensured that things ran smoothly. she also great at returning calls, a much when you want to know what is happening. I would highly recommend her to any tenants or landlords.

Many thanks to Faye Godfrey and Clare Meade for their tenacity and determination in getting a complex chain over the line - we finally exchanged last week and really appreciated being kept in the loop, even when the updates weren't always what we wanted to hear (which wasn't their fault!). Thanks for all your help!

Recently sold our home with streets ahead both Catherine and Mary did a fantastic job. They were always very respectful and really got to know us so they were best equipped to sell our property would highly recommend and the aftersale was also great. Felt we were in the best hands throughout the whole stressful process would highly recommend.

Ebi was great at getting suitable people to view the property and after 3 weeks my property was sold, after a terrible experience with Barnard Marcus, Ebi really got things moving.
Diane was truly amazing at progressing the sale of my property, very quick at responding to enquiries, always available to get hold of and just really helpful all round. Was able to turn my sale around very quickly and updated me at every step of the way, she is truly an asset to the team.
Will definitely go straight to Streets Ahead next time, really good service.

Catherine at Streets Ahead was extremely helpful throughout my house search. She coordinated viewings across a number of offices in the different areas I was looking at. I was always kept informed and updated. Catherine is an excellent communicator and I would highly recommend her to new customers.

My experience with Streets Ahead started well and only got better. I only really dealt with Michael O'Flaherty and Mary J Taylor and every step of the way they excelled. Michael took the time to make sure he knew exactly what i was looking for, listened and every place he showed me i liked - its not often you can say that about an estate agent. The buying process was made super easy by both Micheal and Mary J, they managed all our solicitors, kept us constantly up to date and without them it would have been a nightmare - forever grateful!
I literally couldn't fault the pair - i have no hesitation in recommending them for buying or selling!
They really are Streets Ahead ;)

As a buyer I've never been more impressed by estate agents and can genuinely say they're trustworthy and work hard for both parties. For reasons unrelated to the estate agent (me) my purchase was a difficult process, but Marina Streel and Courtney Brown were patient, understanding and polite. And when I needed access to the property they were helpful too. I never leave reviews, but these two deserve it.